Snow day No. 4: Some local school districts now out of built-in makeup days

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Charlie, a 1-year-old golden retriever, coaxes Drew Waldrup of Evansville up the hill at Helfrich Hills Golf Course after he had chased him to the bottom Thursday afternoon. R.C. Lehman, Charlie's owner and a teacher, was taking advantage of the fifth consecutive snow day.
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Emory Foster, 6, climbs the mound of snow deposited in front of his Warrick County home by snow plows Wednesday morning. Emory and his mom, Katie Foster, were clearing the icy piles so they could get the family vehicles into the driveway.
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Isaac Morris of Evansville braves the falling snow and low temperatures to get some fishing in at Garvin Park Monday morning. Morris used a long pipe to bust a hole in the thin, snow-covered ice and a container of bee moths to coax the crappie and bluegill to bite. The avid fisherman also catches trout and bass at the popular fishing spot, but didn't catch any of those this day.
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Canada geese huddle along the waters edge at Garvin Park Monday afternoon. The cold temperatures have covered more than 90-percent of the pond with ice making open water hard to come by.
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PJ Britt, 4, makes the long walk back up the hill at the Henderson Municipal Golf Course where he and his mom and dad, Lacey and Paul Britt of Henderson, took advantage of the snow day Friday.
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PJ Britt, 4, hops up from his sled for another trip up the hill at the Henderson Municipal Golf Course where he and his mom and dad, Lacey and Paul Britt of Henderson, took advantage of the snow day Friday.
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Linda Briody clears off her North Side Evansville driveway for the second time in as many days Tuesday afternoon. "It wasn't as bad this time," Briody said. "Sunday's snow had ice under it."(Photo: DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS)Buy Photo

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — While many local schoolchildren may have enjoyed being out of class for a week as of Thursday due to hazardous road conditions, if cancellations continue some may lose a day of summer vacation.

Thursday’s snow day was the fourth consecutive day off for many local schools including the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., Warrick County School Corp., the Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon, the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County, Gibson County school districts and Evansville Catholic schools.

Most Tri-State students last attended school on Jan. 11.

A few schools had planned to use Monday, which was a scheduled day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as a makeup but later reversed the decision because roads still weren’t suitable for safe travel.

Area school districts cited poor road conditions on side streets and in rural areas, as well as snow and ice covered sidewalks for keeping schools closed again Thursday.

The fourth cancellation could exhaust makeup days built into some school district calendars.

The next plan for those districts — if cancellations continue — is to add days on to the end of the school year or use the virtual learning option which was first offered by the Indiana Department of Education in 2015.

Hoosier school districts can apply to use e-learning days in lieu of snow days. The virtual option can be used in two ways: on the day of the school cancellation for inclement weather or as a makeup day or makeup hours on, for example, a Saturday instead of adding days at the end of the school year.

Specific decisions are made at the school level but can include work being completed online through reading, writing and answering questions; some teachers record videos of their lessons, others conduct virtual chats and some issue take-home work.

Sara DeWitt, EVSC director of communications, said in an email Wednesday night that specific information on making up EVSC's snow days will be sent home when school resumes. DeWitt said it will include a combination of built-in days and virtual days.

Mt. Vernon students will now be in school Feb. 19, April 27, 30 and May 24, which extends the school year by one day despite there still being a built-in day on April 2.

However, Mt. Vernon Superintendent Tom Kopatich said the April 2 day is scheduled to be used last because it is the Monday following Spring Break, and he said some families don’t return from previously planned vacations until then.

“I don’t know if we get to that point what we’ll do on that date,” Kopatich said.

In past years, Kopatich said the state has offered waivers for schools to do an alternate schedule. He said if there are more snow days, officials will do what they can do to get students and staff on summer vacation before Memorial Day.

But there have been years where school extends into June, he said.

“In the past, we’ve gone a little bit earlier and gotten out a little bit later each day and have been able to make up some days,” Kopatich said. “There’s no doubt after we get through the winter and in early March if any of those options come open we’ll look at the possibility of those. We may not get another snow day, and we’ll be fine. Who knows.”

At the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County, students used last Friday as a virtual learning day, according to a Facebook announcement, and students will use the built-in Feb. 19 makeup day as another virtual learning day.

The only other built-in makeup day for North Posey, according to the district calendar, is April 27. Even if that day is used, there is still another day to make up.

North Posey school officials haven't announced plans yet for making up the Wednesday and Thursday snow days.

Warrick County School Corp. students will make up snow days on Feb. 19, March 23, April 13 and 27, according to school officials. The only other built-in makeup day is May 11.

Catholic Diocese of Evansville kids were also out of class on Thursday. Administrators at those schools can make individual decisions for their students.

Evansville Christian School’s website states the Feb. 19 built-in makeup day will now be used for Friday's lost classroom time.

North Gibson School Corp. students will now be in class Feb. 19, March 16 and April 13 to make up the snow days. The last built-in makeup option is May 11. Officials haven't announced plans to make up the fourth snow day.

“We know delays and cancellations are difficult for our working parents,” a North Gibson Facebook post stated. “Canceling or delaying school is evaluated on how safe our busses can travel the roadways, and it simply still is not safe for bus travel.”

Henderson County Schools said they'll make up their snow days on President's Day and by using four of their five built-in or "banked" snow days.

Other area schools had not officially made a final decision about when the snow days would be made up, but here are built-in makeup days for some other local districts: